Tropical Cyclone Tracy smashed into Darwin early on Christmas morning 1974 with wind speeds of up to 250km/hr. The cyclone caused 71 deaths, the destruction of thousands of homes, the evacuation of over 35 000 people and around a $800 million in damages.
When?
Cyclone Tracy hit on Christmas morning just past midnight in 1974, it raged on for 6 hours straight and at 3:00 am the strongest of the wind hit Darwin. Cyclone Tracy is considered as one of the worst natural disasters in Australian History, destroying an Australian City.
How?
The Cyclone was first detected in the Arafura sea, north of Darwin. It developed into a small, but very intense tropical storm, on the 20th of December in 1974. It then slowly moved south-west passing close to Bathus island (on the 23rd and 24th of December). It then turned quick and sharp south-east heading straight for the City of Darwin. Cyclone Tracy was categorised as a Category 4 cyclone, reaching 217km/h before the instrument for measuring wind speed at Darwin Airport was destroyed. It is estimated that wind speeds got up to 300km/h.